


best dressed mess

by lavender (yestoday)



Category: NU'EST, Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, College, M/M, Opposites Attract, Sexual Content, mentioned jinhwi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-02-23 01:38:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13179633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yestoday/pseuds/lavender
Summary: Listen, it’s not Minhyun’s fault that his crazy next door neighbor Kim Jaehwan keeps messing up his chances of getting laid.





	best dressed mess

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by a fic I read here long ago that I can’t remember the name, author or fandom of... I’m sorry :’)

Minhyun is, by nature, an incredibly meticulous person. He keeps a color-coded cleaning schedule on his fridge. He always reorganizes things that don’t need to be reorganized around his apartment. All of his spoons are kept in the right drawer, his forks in another.

Minhyun can’t stand mess, which is exactly why he nearly throws a fit when he comes home one day to find a big black garbage bag, filled to the brim with packages of ramen bowls and other products similarly pumped full of MSG, dumped outside his door.

He’s never in his life ingested that much unhealthy food, so it’s safe to say the trash bag doesn’t belong to Minhyun. Which can only mean that it’s probably courtesy of the only other college student living on this floor, Kim Jaehwan.

Minhyun frowns as he eyes the bag, wondering if he should just take it out with his own trash. But then he remembers just how irritating Kim Jaehwan actually is, so instead he bypasses his own door and raps his knuckles sharply on Jaehwan’s.

Predictably, it takes a few minutes and more insistent knocking on Minhyun’s part for the door to swing open. During that time, Minhyun takes to glaring viciously at the innocuous-looking rubbish bag sitting outside his door, hoping to somehow eradicate it from this plane of existence just by looking at it.

This is why he isn’t paying attention when Jaehwan actually does open the door, clearing his throat to inform Minhyun of his presence. And also accounts for how Minhyun chokes on his words when he finally does redirect his gaze to Jaehwan and sees nothing but smooth, taut skin.

“Why the _fuck_ don’t you wear a shirt to get the door?” Minhyun squeaks, quickly averting his eyes. He thanks god himself that Jaehwan is at least wearing some pants.

He can hear Jaehwan sigh audibly, like he’s annoyed. Like he has the right to be annoyed with Minhyun, when Jaehwan is the one who’d decided to grace Minhyun’s doorstep with his trash.

“I was in the shower, but you sounded like you were gonna break my door down,” Jaehwan explains, leaning against the doorframe. Minhyun tries not to let his gaze wander down south, but the difficult part about the entire thing is that Minhyun has eyes and is incredibly gay. Plus, Jaehwan might not be totally ripped but he still has something going on there.

“Why is your stuff outside my door?” Minhyun says instead, pointing to the offending item in an attempt to distract himself.

Jaehwan takes a look, then glances back at Minhyun and shrugs. “Um, I can’t put it outside of mine,” he states in a perfectly placid matter-of-fact tone that does nothing but rile Minhyun up even more.

“Why not?” Minhyun shrills, thoroughly annoyed.

His neighbor just shrugs, again, with more vigor in his shoulders. “It’ll ruin my aesthetic.”

Minhyun closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and reminds himself that he is over the age of eighteen and hence cannot be tried in juvenile court. When he’s reopened them, Jaehwan is still there, looking bemused.

“You done?” He says, voice irritatingly amused. “If there’s nothing else, I’m gonna close the door now.”

“You’re a dick,” Minhyun snaps right as Jaehwan swings the door shut. He thinks he hears his neighbor’s obnoxious cackle of glee through the wall.

Fuming, Minhyun swivels on his heel and heads back to his own apartment, resolving to blatantly ignore the trash bag sitting outside. If he doesn’t do anything about it, surely Jaehwan will. Right?

* * *

 

A day later, Minhyun belatedly realises that he really should’ve done something about the trash bag.

He’d passed by it on the way out that evening, sparing the time to send it a scathing look. He had entertained the thought of moving it to Jaehwan’s door, but Minhyun’s 100% sure that his neighbor would just bring it back. So he’d left it here untouched. And now it’s come back to bite him in the ass.

This had all started with Jonghyun’s brilliant plan to get together at a bar and catch up. It was a good idea in theory, but Jonghyun had failed to take into account Minki’s involvement.

After an hour, things had degenerated into neutral chaos. Minhyun, having been delivered drink after drink by Satan’s right hand man (Choi Minki), was drunk enough to make bad decisions and in related news was making out with a stranger in some dark seedy corner.

And now, Minhyun is stumbling down the corridor that leads to his apartment with said stranger in tow. The man—Gong Seongwoo? Hong Seongwoo? It was something Seongwoo—mouths at Minhyun’s neck fervently as Minhyun struggles to keep them both upright while fishing for his keys.

With his hands and brain occupied, Minhyun naturally doesn’t think about the trash bag. Which is why, when the stranger steps back to let Minhyun fit his key into his door, he doesn’t think to warn Seongwoo about the large obstruction and can only watch in horror as his lay of the day trips over the bag, sending its contents flying, and falls on his (very nice) ass.

Seongwoo, to his credit, doesn’t look very upset that he’s sitting on the ground amongst empty takeout boxes and paper cups. Instead, he peers up at Minhyun in confusion.

“Um, are you—“ It’s only then that Minhyun snaps out of it and extends a hand to Seongwoo, fully intent on helping him out.

He’s rudely interrupted by a familiar, annoying voice coming from behind him. “See, Minhyun, I told you not to leave your trash out in the hallway.”

Minhyun grits his teeth and discreetly flips Jaehwan off behind his back. Jaehwan, from where he’s got his head poking out of his apartment and into none of his business, just laughs. He kind of sounds like a demented hyena.

“Hi, I’m Kim Jaehwan.” Minhyun’s neighbor waves exaggeratedly at Seongwoo, who’s still sitting on the floor looking between Minhyun and Jaehwan like he’s spectating a particularly riveting tennis match. “And you are?”

“Ong Seongwoo,” Seongwoo coughs into his fist. Ah, so that’s it, Minhyun thinks. “And I… should be going.”

Seongwoo clambers to his feet and takes off down the hallway, without a backward glance. Minhyun watches him go mournfully, before turning back to Jaehwan, his brows knitting together.

“You’re a pest, you know?” Minhyun mutters, swaying a little on his feet. The alcohol is taking more out of him than he’d thought it would. His head is kind of fuzzy.

Jaehwan fakes a hurt look, clutching at his chest. “What’d I do this time?” He whines.

Minhyun snorts. “This time?” He takes a step towards Jaehwan, jabbing his finger into the air between them. “No. _Many_ times. Whenever I have somebody over or—or I’m getting ready to go out on a date or something, you always fuck it up for me.”

“I mean, you can hardly blame my trash for what just happened, can you?” Jaehwan quirks a brow up, seemingly amused despite Minhyun glaring at him.

“Yes I can,” Minhyun hisses. “And every other time I don’t get laid, it’s because of you.” He’s gotten close enough that he can jab Jaehwan in the chest instead of just the air. Jaehwan looks unbothered.

“Name one time,” he declares, reaching to grab Minhyun’s hand when it looks like the latter is about to poke him again.

“That time I had this girl over and you walked in unannounced asking to borrow sugar,” Minhyun answers immediately, the scenario springing to mind on demand. “The door was closed. You misused your knowledge of where I keep my spare key. And you refused to leave even when you’d gotten your sugar because you wanted to give a whole speech expounding the merits of using sugar over honey when baking chocolate chip cookies. She walked out halfway through and never called me again.”

“Yeah, but then I gave you some cookies the next day,” Jaehwan winks cunningly. “For free!”

It’s the alcohol’s fault. Minhyun totally, completely, wholeheartedly blames what he says next on the alcohol buzzing in his body.

“You should’ve given me a blowjob instead, idiot,” Minhyun spits, his mouth moving faster than his currently sluggish brain.

And Jaehwan… he just smirks, the corners of his lips turning upward in a way that is somehow both smug and annoying. “Well, I could, if you want me to.”

Minhyun squints at him. “I was joking. And I’m also pretty drunk right now, if you can’t tell.”

Jaehwan hums, raking his eyes up and down Minhyun’s body. He doesn’t do it with an ounce of subtlety. “Yeah, I noticed,” he drawls. “But… I’m just saying. If you were really _dead-set_ on it, like if you think you might die if you don’t get your dick sucked in the near future, I’m not opposed to the idea.”

The way Jaehwan phrases his words is so crude, it almost makes Minhyun want to do a 180-degree spin and retreat to his own apartment. He refrains only because Jaehwan chooses that moment to smile, and wow okay several important things.

One, he’s got a nice smile. Like, not anything special. Just… pretty.

Two, his lips are really pink and plump. Seriously, how does he do it? Is he wearing lip tint?

Three, everything is ruined when he opens his mouth.

“I can see you staring at my mouth, you thirsty motherfucker,” Jaehwan chortles. “Am I to assume that my proposition to your proposition is being considered?”

Minhyun’s face burns. He doesn’t want to look at Jaehwan anymore.

“No,” he insists, and then turns to go back into his own home.

He can still hear Jaehwan laughing behind him, even as he opens the door and steps into the relative peace of his apartment.

“If you change your mind, you know where to find me!”

* * *

When Minhyun wakes up, he sorely regrets the fact that he didn’t drink more the night before. If he was going to have to suffer through a hangover anyway, he should’ve gone all out.

Now he’s nursing his aching head, fumbling in the kitchen cabinets for aspirin while desperately trying not to recall the events of the previous night. Jaehwan’s mocking voice keeps floating through his mind. Jaehwan’s lips, for some reason, occupy a perpetual corner of Minhyun’s headspace.

It’s not like he hasn’t looked at Jaehwan before. As demonstrated previously, Jaehwan is fond of answering doors without a shirt on. And yeah, Jaehwan is… he’s pretty. Objectively speaking, that is. He’s attractive, but not in an overly masculine way.

Jaehwan’s got nice eyes. His eyelashes are long and curly, framing his irises perfectly. His cheeks are cute. Minhyun supposes. It’s not like Minhyun has ever checked him out or anything.

Anyway.

The point is, Minhyun can no longer look Jaehwan in the face. This may be partially due to the fact that Minhyun has experienced some kind of spiritual awakening in regards to Jaehwan’s lips, colored cherry red, and he’s already treading dangerous territory here. He _hasn’t_ thought about leaving bruises in the shape of his mouth on Jaehwan’s skin, decorating the creamy surface.

It’s just a passing phase, Minhyun convinces himself.

When the doorbell rings, the melodic music hammering into Minhyun’s skull, he has to drag himself over to the door if only to make it stop. He doesn’t check the peephole before opening it, which is actually rather dangerous and definitely not something he’d do if he had his head screwed on right.

“Sup?”

Minhyun should’ve really checked his goddamn peephole.

“What do you want?” He grunts out. Jaehwan just grins cheerfully and holds out a container. It looks clean, but Minhyun still eyes it with suspicion.

“I figured you’d have a bitch of a hangover to deal with, so I made you soup,” Jaehwan shakes the container a little, seemingly for no reason other than to shake the container.

“Uh,” Minhyun really does not know how to react to this, so he just blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. “We’re not friends.”

The skin around Jaehwan’s eyes crinkles when he smiles. “You’d say that to me after telling me to literally suck your dick just twelve hours ago? Hot and cold, babe.”

Minhyun can’t help the flush that creeps up his neck. He snatches the container purely for something to do. “Don’t call me babe,” he mumbles, eyeing the floor. Wow, the carpet is getting old.

And then—“Thank you, Jaehwan,” Minhyun says, gaze darting up to meet Jaehwan’s for a split second. The younger looks amused.

“It’s whatever,” Jaehwan waves his hand airily like this is just a service he provides. “Oh, also, the cleaning staff took the trash away. Now you can’t blame it for you not getting laid.”

Minhyun rolls his eyes so hard he feels a little dizzy. “As long as you’re around, I fear it still won’t be happening.”

Jaehwan shrugs. “Hey, I offered you a solution.”

And that makes Minhyun shift on the spot, uncomfortable but for some reason curious. “You’d really do it, then?”

“Duh, I said so,” Jaehwan answers without a shadow of doubt in his voice. “Maybe I feel bad for the sugar incident. Maybe I just want to blow you. Who knows, really?”

Somewhere along the way, Minhyun’s decision-making skills must have taken a harsh blow from the trials of life, because he finds himself saying, “Are you free tonight?”

“As a bird,” Jaehwan replies easily, sliding his hands into his pockets. “Sleep off your hangover and come over when you want.”

He turns to leave, but something festering in the pit of Minhyun’s stomach makes him call after Jaehwan. “I’ll return the favor.”

Jaehwan shoots him a crooked grin over his shoulder, flashing him a thumbs up. “Nice doing business with you, Hwang.”

* * *

Minhyun has prepared for dates before. This doesn’t feel like a date, though. It’s more like a surprisingly pleasant conglomeration of a friendly gathering (between two people) and like… an orgy (also between two people, which rather defeats the purpose of an orgy, now that Minhyun thinks about it).

It goes like this:

Jaehwan opens the door wearing this huge hoodie that hangs dangerously off his shoulders and leaves little about his collarbones to the imagination. Minhyun swallows hard.

It’s a bit of a total fucking mess after that, as one might expect. It is, after all, a premade agreement to have sex between two people who actually know each other and see each other on a daily basis.

Jaehwan offers Minhyun a drink, which he declines. Then they both sit on the couch, pretending to watch the news when in actual fact Minhyun is sneaking glances at Jaehwan(‘s collarbones) and acting like he doesn’t see Jaehwan sneaking glances at Minhyun(‘s crotch. Yeah, chivalry is dead).

The silence is only broken when Jaehwan clears his throat and asks, “So, like, do you wanna watch a porno or something?”

Minhyun chokes on his spit and shoots Jaehwan an incredulous look. “Is that really how you set the mood?”

There’s a cheeky grin on Jaehwan’s face. “Well, it could work. Why not?” He shifts closer to Minhyun, eyes glimmering. “You scared of exposing your secret dirty kinks or something?”

“I don’t have dirty kinks,” Minhyun shoves at Jaehwan’s shoulder, weakly, because he doesn’t really want Jaehwan to move away, not when he’s looking at Minhyun like this.

Jaehwan chuckles and settles himself on Minhyun’s lap. He’s obscuring the television screen, but Minhyun can’t bring himself to care in the slightest. “That’s what they all say,” Jaehwan teases, running his fingers underneath Minhyun’s jaw. “You look like someone who does.”

“So do you,” Minhyun mumbles petulantly, a little distracted by Jaehwan’s hands. They’re calloused and slightly rough. He idly wonders why.

Jaehwan snickers, managing to sound like a particularly cute evil witch. “I do, actually. You can spank me anytime.”

Minhyun feels like he can’t breathe. Jaehwan cocks his head to the right, mouth quirking upwards. “You look like a daddy kink kind of guy,” he muses.

“I don’t have a daddy kink, you shit,” Minhyun leans his forehead against Jaehwan’s shoulder, if only because he doesn’t want to look Jaehwan in the eyes.

Jaehwan hums indulgently. “Okay,” he says, but it’s clearly disbelieving. Minhyun frowns, letting his teeth dig gently into Jaehwan’s shoulder, through the soft fabric of his hoodie, as a protest.

Jaehwan jerks a little in his arms, and his voice is breathy when he says, “So you’re a biter, then?”

Minhyun doesn’t reply. Instead he trails his mouth from Jaehwan’s shoulder to his jawline, his lips ghosting over Jaehwan’s skin until their mouths are pressed together for one short, chaste kiss.

Minhyun pulls away after a second, checking to see if Jaehwan was okay with that. Maybe they should’ve explicitly stated guidelines and regulations or something… but Jaehwan is just looking at him with his eyes slightly glazed over.

“Do that again,” he all but demands, and Minhyun does.

It’s only when he’s sprawled out on the couch with Jaehwan on top of him, their legs tangling together and Minhyun sliding his fingers underneath Jaehwan’s hoodie to take it off, Jaehwan furiously grinding his hips down against Minhyun’s, both of them nearly breathless and stifling sounds in each other’s mouths, that Jaehwan asks if he wants to take it to the bedroom. Minhyun obliges.

* * *

“You came when I called you annoying,” Minhyun notes later at night (or early in the morning, whichever way you looked at it). He had been planning on returning to his apartment afterwards, but Jaehwan is apparently a tactile person so Minhyun stayed to cuddle his clingy ass.

Jaehwan makes a muffled whining noise, his face buried in the crook of Minhyun’s neck. “Don’t talk about that.”

Which of course means Minhyun is going to talk about that. He nudges Jaehwan, prompting the younger to lift his head and pout at Minhyun.

Alright, that’s kind of cute, but Minhyun refuses to get distracted by it. There’s a bigger issue at hand here.

_(Minhyun’s fingers curl around Jaehwan’s dick, pumping him slowly and languidly, keeping his strokes smooth. Jaehwan makes a high-pitched whimpering sound, and buries his face into Minhyun’s shoulder._

_“You gonna come already?” Minhyun can’t help but tease, his other hand running lightly through Jaehwan’s hair._

_Jaehwan’s voice is hoarse when he answers, the result of him deepthroating Minhyun like his soul depended on it. “Shut up, old man, I’m surprised you still have the energy to do this,” he retorts with zero bite._

_“You’re so annoying,” Minhyun huffs out, and to his utter surprise Jaehwan groans and comes into his fist.)_

“Coincidence,” Jaehwan insists. He fists the front of the sweater Minhyun had put back on after he’d washed up in Jaehwan’s bathroom, fingers gripping the cotton.

“Mm hmm,” Minhyun raises an eyebrow. “What is that, like the opposite of a praise kink?”

Jaehwan whines again. “Stop,” he drags the single syllable out for several beats longer than is necessary. Minhyun kind of gets the gist that Jaehwan is the type of person who’d joke about having weird kinks until someone actually discovers his real ones.

“Fine, you brat,” Minhyun chuckles, wrapping his arm tighter around Jaehwan’s waist. He can’t resist it, though. “Oh wait, you’re not gonna pop a boner from that, are you?”

“Shut the fuck up, please,” Jaehwan grumbles and returns to hiding his face in Minhyun’s shoulder.

* * *

When Minhyun runs into Jaehwan in the elevator on Monday morning, his neighbor is wearing a turtleneck that doesn’t entirely cover the purple splotches on his neck.

Minhyun stifles a laugh. “Did you get mauled or something?” He teases.

Jaehwan glares at him, but it comes off more like a tiny frustrated kitten than an angry mountain lion. “Very funny, Hwang,” he gripes, trying to pull the collar of his turtleneck higher. It doesn’t work, and Minhyun gets to admire the pretty hickeys he put on Jaehwan’s skin a little longer.

“It would, of course, be _even_ funnier,” Jaehwan continues, sniffing haughtily, “if you hadn’t been the one doing the mauling.”

“I claim nothing,” Minhyun says pleasantly. The elevator doors slide open and he slips out, pausing only to wave at Jaehwan. “See you around, asshole.”

Jaehwan groans and knocks his head against the wall of the elevator. “You’re never going to let that go.” He doesn’t receive a reply as Minhyun has already disappeared out the building, on his way to his management lecture.

So maybe Minhyun is in a much better mood the whole day than he’d been the previous week. He catches himself humming under his breath once or twice, and he even treats the high school kid he’s tutoring to food.

Jinyoung scrunches up his nose and eyes Minhyun oddly when they’re seated in the chicken restaurant. “You’re being weird.”

Minhyun simply smiles back at him. “You should eat more if you want to have energy to woo Lee Daehwi!” He sings back.

Jinyoung scowls and slurps angrily at his drink. “I should never have told you about that,” he mutters, and Minhyun beams.

He reaches home in the early evening, having finished up all his lessons for the day and concluded his study session with Jinyoung. Minhyun normally doesn’t cook, but he’s feeling so relaxed that he figures some fried rice can’t hurt.

He puts a Spotify playlist on the speakers and sings along as he goes about making his dinner. As he's measuring out the rice, Minhyun is suddenly hit with a vision of a trash bag filled to the brim with empty instant noodle packages. What does Jaehwan even survive on? Minhyun muses while pouring a little more rice than he probably needs into the bowl.

Jaehwan can cook, surely. The soup he'd made hadn't been inedible. Actually, knowing his mess of a neighbor, Jaehwan's likely just too lazy to cook proper meals and hence just relies on microwaved food. Well, that's definitely not a healthy way to live. Minhyun keeps pouring the rice.

It's just because he's concerned about the amount of preservatives that Jaehwan's ingesting, Minhyun tells himself while he picks up his phone and sends a quick text to ' _annoying neighbour'_ asking if he's home. It's just because no human being should be eating instant food every. Jaehwan's going to have a heart attack or something, and then Minhyun will have to deal with slightly misplaced guilt for the rest of his life.

Plus, Jaehwan's like... a really good lay. Minhyun doesn't want him to die because of his poor dietary habits.

His phone buzzes.  _hwang minhyun, are u booty calling me LOL ;)) yes im home wassup._

_come over idiot i'm feeding you._

_are we talking actual food or,, :P_

_i'm giving you five minutes._

Just three minutes later, the doorbell rings. Minhyun tries not to smile too hard as he heads to open the door.

Jaehwan is squinting at him suspiciously, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "So I still can't figure out if you're using food as an analogy, or if you're actually offering me free dinner."

"What were you going to eat?" Minhyun asks, completely ignoring Jaehwan's shitty conversation starter.

His neighbor shrugs. "I had a choice between microwaved chicken and microwaved rice cakes. Was kinda leaning towards the chicken, but..."

Minhyun has to roll his eyes. "Well, I made too much rice. Do you want it?" That's only half a lie, right? He has good intentions.

Jaehwan's face lights up immediately and he practically floats into Minhyun's apartment, clearly happily accepting the invitation. Minhyun directs him to the dining table, where a steaming pot of fried rice sits, fresh off the stove.

"So you really didn't call me over for any other reason?" Jaehwan asks after he's inhaled half of the pot and has set his eating utensils down. He's the type of person who eats every grain of rice on his plate, Minhyun notes. Just like Minhyun himself. Maybe they aren't so different after all.

Minhyun shrugs and stands up to start clearing plates. "Well... I wouldn't say no, if you wanted to."

"I still haven't figured out what naughty kinks you have," Jaehwan leans back in his chair, blatantly running his eyes up and down Minhyun's body as the older washes the dishes. Minhyun throws him a deadpan look over his shoulder, but Jaehwan just smirks back at him and gets up too.

Minhyun tries to focus on the task at hand, but Jaehwan's standing much closer than necessary as he hands his own plate over to be washed. He smells a little bit like blueberries, a familiar scent which sends Minhyun's mind spiraling down the dark path that leads to the events of the previous night. Kim Jaehwan is so distracting.

"I don't have any," Minhyun states primly, trying his darned best to just wash his dishes and not do _something_. 

Like make out with Jaehwan on the countertop.

"You're such a shitty liar," Jaehwan answers in amusement, and his mouth is right next to Minhyun's ear, hot breath ghosting along the shell of it. This... this is bad. Minhyun loses his grip on a spoon, letting it clatter into the sink.

Jaehwan seems to take that as a sign to keep going, one arm winding around Minhyun's waist. He's pressed right to Minhyun's side, the lines of their bodies merging together. "Sure you don't want to tie me up or something?" Jaehwan prompts, clearly teasing him.

Minhyun exhales carefully and turns the tap on, running his soapy hands under the flow of water. "I want to gag you so you'll stop talking," he suggests, only half-joking.

The bark of laughter that Jaehwan lets out makes Minhyun want to smile, in spite of himself. "You know, I get that a lot," Jaehwan admits, voice tinkling and melodious as he weaves his viva voce spiderweb. Minhyun already knows he's going to get caught in it, so he makes the executive decision to switch the tap off and turn to lock his lips with Jaehwan's.

Jaehwan yelps into his mouth and giggles as Minhyun maneuvers so that he's the one pressing Jaehwan against the edge of the counter. "Your hands are wet," he whines without sounding like he's actually complaining.

"You won't mind that later," Minhyun mutters in response, and relishes in the little scandalized gasp that Jaehwan makes before their mouths are slanted together again.

* * *

This thing with Jaehwan becomes regular, something that Minhyun slots into his daily routine.

Sometimes they don't eat dinner, instead just skipping straight to pulling clothes off each other and letting their hands wander. Sometimes they just eat dinner and watch a movie and discuss professors at their universities. Sometimes they make out until Jaehwan yawns and rests his head on Minhyun's chest, drifting off into slumber. When Minhyun doesn't feel like cooking, they order takeout or go out to eat.

It feels weird. The good kind of weird, but Minhyun knows they're still running on borrowed time here and sooner or later they're going to have to talk about it. Minhyun's always been a responsible proper adult, but this feels like something's that out of his control.

Jinyoung snorts as he scribbles on his notebook, working on a math problem. "This doesn't sound just like a you're-sleeping-with-your-hot-neighbour problem."

Minhyun glares half-heartedly across the table at him, but it's not like Jinyoung can see him. "What does that even mean?"

"It sounds more like a you're-sleeping-with-your-hot-neighbour-and-you're-also-in-love-with-him kind of problem," Jinyoung clarifies without looking up, and Minhyun groans.

"I didn't come here for your judgment," he says grumpily, casting a glance at his watch. 4:06pm. He's got three more hours before dinner with Jaehwan. Minhyun realizes he's been counting down to it.

Maybe Jinyoung’s a little right. Minhyun might be... well, he has a crush, that’s for certain. On his annoying, messy neighbor.

”You should talk to him,” Jinyoung says casually as if he isn’t a teenager pining after his own best friend. 

Minhyun resists the urge to mention that, because above it all he still has a huge soft spot for Bae Jinyoung. “What would I say?”

Jinyoung snorts derisively, again. The kid’s getting bold. “Um, that you never clearly indicated the boundaries on your arrangement beforehand and now you’ve caught feelings?”

Admittedly, that sounds like quite a good option to go with, but Minhyun would rather eat Jaehwan’s microwaved meals than tell a smug eighteen-year-old that. So he settles for what he hopes is an indifferent grunt and a muttered, “I’ll think about it.”

A little ironically, Minhyun remembers his conversation with Jinyoung while he’s got three fingers inside Jaehwan. Minhyun is startled into stopping for a second, during which Jaehwan whines and paws at him.

”What are you doing,” he complains, wriggling his hips for emphasis. “I’m fine.”

Minhyun decides it wouldn’t be appropriate to talk about it right now. “Okay,” he says instead, and goes back to stretching Jaehwan.

It’s later when Jaehwan’s bouncing back from the shower he’d taken in Minhyun’s bathroom, practically throwing himself into the bed and nudging Minhyun to move over, that the older brings it up.

”So.” Minhyun clears his throat and stares up at the ceiling wondering how he’d gotten to this stage in life.

”So,” Jaehwan echoes, and turns on his side to stare at Minhyun curiously.

Minhyun coughs. “What would you think about, and this is a hypothetical situation... dating me? Properly?”

Jaehwan hums in the back of his throat. “Well, hypothetically... I think it could be nice.”

Minhyun’s heart is racing in his chest, and he’s fairly sure it’s not because of physical exertion. “So you would?”

Instead of answering, Jaehwan shimmies closer and throws an arm around Minhyun’s waist. Two beats pass before he answers, “Yeah. You give me free food. I mean, assuming that in this hypothetical situation you still give me free food.”

The smile he gives Minhyun is assuring of the fact that it isn’t just the food. A chuckle bubbles in Minhyun’s chest. “Then do you want to be my hypothetical boyfriend?”

”Hypothetically,” Jaehwan breathes out, words minty from the toothpaste he’d stolen in Minhyun’s bathroom because he always brings a toothbrush over but not the toothpaste. “Yes.”

* * *

 “Can you please stop bringing your boyfriend to our tutoring sessions?” Jinyoung says in exasperation, tapping his pencil on the tabletop.

Minhyun glances from Jinyoung to Jaehwan, who’s currently half in Minhyun’s lap and flicking through his phone. “I didn’t know he was coming. And he isn’t being annoying this time.”

Jinyoung opens his mouth to retort, but Jaehwan beats him to it. 

“Anyway, I’m here as your tutor too!” Jaehwan announces cheerfully. Jinyoung arches an eyebrow at him, clearly skeptical.

”Your tutor in _love,”_ Jaehwan clarifies, leaning forward excitedly. “What’s this I hear about a certain Lee Daehwi?”

Jinyoung groans and drops his head onto the table, forehead first. Minhyun winces and seriously reconsiders his life choices.

”You think I should tell him that Daehwi is my musical protégé and won’t shut up about Jinyoung either?” Jaehwan mutters under his breath.

Minhyun can’t help but laugh. “Let him stew in his own misery for a while longer.” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> [requests](http://www.curiouscat.me/cherrycity)


End file.
